Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Welcome to the Jan. 15, 2008 edition of the carnival against sexual violence.

Thank you to everyone who nominated a post or who wrote a post against sexual violence whether it was nominated/selected or not. Nominations that came in after the nomination deadline will be considered for the next edition of the carnival.

If you support the purpose of the carnival, you can help get the word out about it and all of the posts included in the carnival.

Here are the selections for this edition of the carnival against sexual violence:

gender

In 1739: Penelope Kenny and Sarah Simpson posted at Executed Today, we get a discussion of the first executions (of either gender) in New Hampshire -- two women hanged for concealing dead children, under harsh laws rooted in gender- and class-structured enforcement of reproductive behavior.

In The Perfect Friend posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, we get a discussion of the contrasting sides of perfectionism using an episode of Desperate Housewives where the character Bree creates a perfect atmosphere yet uses her son as a pawn.

In Rape, lies and county debts posted at Hoyden About Town, we get a discussion of the possibility that a California woman who pleaded no contest to a charge of filing a false police report will be levied the expenses for the criminal investigation when this expense doesn't seem to get levied for other false police reports.

In Virginia Governor Proposes Rape Law Reform posted at The Curvature, we get a discussion of the proposed changes to current law which currently include allowing a statutory rapist to escape prosecution by marrying the victim and which allows police to require rape victims to take a lie detector test.

In Tale as Old as Time: Blame the Victim posted at Feminist Law Professors, we get a discussion of the denied request by Broadway actor James Barbour (who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the reported groping of a 15-year-old fan) to set up his own hotline seeking information from other men "falsely accused" by this girl.

personal stories

In A Failure of Imagination posted at Waiting for Rain, we get a discussion of the unexpected reaction 4 friends had to a slogan for a liquor store which implies that alcohol can overcome lack of consent and how otherwise decent people can find a dangerous message funny.

In Cars, beer, sexual harassment posted at The Curvature, we get a discussion of the behavior of a mob of about 200 men at the Summernats car festival, which takes place in Canberra every year, as they yelled at women to expose their breasts and see how this behavior fits with the festival organizer's description of them as a “big group of happy people marching around.”

recovery

In The essence of compassion part 2 posted at Loving Awareness, we get a discussion about how denial of child sexual abuse and avoidance of the issue of abuse is really a lack of compassion. A refusal to accept the abuse adds to the trauma of the experience.

In AM I UNDER HIS "SPELL"? posted at Dangerous Liaisons, we get a discussion about how the feeling of being under an abuser's spell can come from the fatigue of being abused much the same way that people can feel hypnotised from driving a long stretch of road.

That concludes this edition of the carnival against sexual violence. Thank you for taking the time to visit this carnival and thank you to the authors of all the posts included in this edition.

The next submission deadline is Jan. 29 at 11 pm and the next edition will be out on Feb. 1.

To nominate a post (your own or someone else's) to the next edition of carnival against sexual violence, use our carnival submission form. If you have any problem with the form, please let me know so your submission can be considered for the next edition.

I apologize for my delay in thanking you for including my post in your carnival. We're caring for an elderly parent, and having one emergency after another, and I've gotten behind in nearly everything surrounding my blog.

Thank you very much for bringing this vital and devastating topic to others.

About Abyss2hope

Abyss2hope is centered on date rape, but isn't limited to discussing crimes which can be described this way since the causes and attitudes related to date rape are interconnected with domestic violence and other types of sexual violence.

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